New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, December 26, 2014:

-RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Dec. 26, 2014
* NYNY1412.26

- Birds Mentioned
BARNACLE GOOSE+
COUCH’S KINGBIRD+
CASSIN’S KINGBIRD+

(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE
Cackling Goose
TUNDRA SWAN
Eurasian Wigeon
KING EIDER
HARLEQUIN DUCK
BARROW’S GOLDENEYE
Red-necked Grebe
Bald Eagle
Northern Goshawk
Rough-legged Hawk
Virginia Rail
Wilson’s Snipe
American Woodcock
Laughing Gull
BLACK-HEADED GULL
Iceland Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Glaucous Gull
Razorbill
Barn Owl
Snowy Owl
Long-eared Owl
Short-eared Owl
Northern Saw-whet Owl
Eastern Phoebe
Common Raven
House Wren
Orange-crowned Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Wilson’s Warbler
CLAY-COLORED SPARROW
Vesper Sparrow
Nelson’s Sparrow
Lincoln’s Sparrow
Baltimore Oriole
Common Redpoll

If followed by (+) please submit documentation of your report electronically and use the NYSARC online submission form found at http://www.nybirds.org/NYSARC/goodreport.htm

You can also send reports and digital image files via email to nysarc44nybirdsorg

If electronic submission is not possible, hardcopy reports and photos or sketches are welcome. Hardcopy documentation should be mailed to:

Gary Chapin - Secretary
NYS Avian Records Committee (NYSARC)
125 Pine Springs Drive
Ticonderoga, NY 12883

Hotline: New York City Area Rare Bird Alert
Number: (212) 979-3070

Compiler: Tom Burke, Tony Lauro
Coverage: New York City, Long Island, Westchester County

Transcriber: Gail Benson

[~BEGIN RBA TAPE~]

Greetings. This is the New York Rare Bird Alert for Friday, December 26 at 6:00 pm.

The highlights of today’s tape are COUCH’S and CASSIN’S KINGBIRDS (yes folks this is New York in late December), BARNACLE and GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE, TUNDRA SWAN, BARROW’S GOLDENEYE, KING EIDER, HARLEQUIN DUCK, BLACK-HEADED GULL, CLAY-COLORED SPARROW, and Christmas Count results.

A COUCH’S KINGBIRD, potentially New York State’s first if accepted by NYSARC, was revealed as a possibility in southern Manhattan Thursday evening and was relocated, heard calling and extensively photographed this morning. The bird had been seen off and on for perhaps up to 8 weeks in lower Manhattan, and finally photos were obtained that piqued the interest of local birders. This morning the bird spent much of its time in a small park along Washington Street between Jane Street to the south and Horatio Street on the north side. After mid-day when the trees in the little park fell into shadow, the Kingbird was relocated three blocks away in a small park with sunlit trees in the middle of the intersection of Bleeker Street, Hudson Street, and 8th Avenue. Hopefully these habits will continue.

Disappointingly the CASSIN’S KINGBIRD, seen last Friday, did not appear for the Brooklyn Christmas Bird Count last Saturday, but it was reported again Tuesday in the same location it had been frequenting –the picnic area at the south end of the Community Garden at Floyd Bennett Field. Today it was reported in the Community Garden itself.

Among the Christmas Counts held last Saturday, Montauk recorded 127 species, featuring 2 EURASIAN WIGEONS on Gardiners Island, 4 KING EIDERS, with 2 drakes off Montauk Point, 2 HARLEQUIN DUCKS near Culloden Point, 10 RED-NECKED GREBES, 8 BALD EAGLES, a NORTHERN GOSHAWK, 3 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS, 12 AMERICAN WOODCOCKS, 2 ICELAND GULLS, 293 RAZORBILLS, 1 BARN, 1 NORTHERN SAW-WHET and 2 SNOWY OWLS, 3 HOUSE WRENS, ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, CLAY-COLORED SPARROW on Gardiners Island, 2 LINCOLN’S SPARROWS and 2 COMMON REDPOLLS.

The Brooklyn Count Saturday noted 123 species including 3 EURASIAN WIGEONS, 7 RED-NECKED GREBES, 1 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK, 1 BARN, 5 SNOWY, 1 SHORT-EARED and 2 NO. SAW-WHET OWLS, 2 EASTERN PHOEBES, COMMON RAVEN, ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, the CLAY-COLORED SPARROW continuing in Prospect Park and single VESPER and NELSON’S SPARROWS.

Northern Nassau on Saturday recorded 109 species, highlights including a drake BARROW’S GOLDENEYE off Sand’s Point Preserve, single CACKLING and GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE, RED-NECKED GREBE, LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL, COMMON RAVEN, COMMON YELLOWTHROAT, and VESPER SPARROW.

Among the Peekskill Count’s 95 species Saturday were VIRGINIA RAIL, 35 BALD EAGLES, 2 NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWLS and EASTERN PHOEBE.

Staten Island Saturday among their 94 species noted 5 RED-NECKED GREBES, 2 BALD EAGLES and 3 ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS.

The Sagaponack Count last Sunday recorded 126 species with 4 GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE, 2 CACKLING GEESE, 2 TUNDRA SWANS, 3 RED-NECKED GREBES, ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK, 2 BALD EAGLES, single LAUGHING, BLACK-HEADED, LESSER BLACK-BACKED and GLAUCOUS GULLS, 66 RAZORBILLS, 1 SHORT-EARED OWL, 2 LONG-EARED OWLS, COMMON RAVEN, 6 ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS, single NASHVILLE and WILSON’S WARBLERS, VESPER SPARROW and BALTIMORE ORIOLE. The White-Fronted and 1 of the Cackling Geese and the Tundra Swans were on Hook Pond in East Hampton, and the Black-headed Gull was at Sagg Pond at the end of Sagg-Main Street in Bridgehampton.

Among the 88 species on the Rockland Count Sunday were RED-NECKED GREBE, GLAUCOUS GULL, WILSON’S SNIPE, and SHORT-EARED OWL.

The BARNACLE GOOSE, along with up to 4 GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE, continues to be seen at St Charles Cemetery in Farmingdale. They are usually best viewed from Wellwood Avenue on the east side of the cemetery, as the geese are often in the south end of the cemetery property since the cemetery’s policy is to chase them off the central grassy areas. If viewing from Wellwood, choose your parking area carefully-- it is a busy road, and if entering the cemetery property to view the geese, they ask that you first check in at the office at the Wellwood entrance.

An immature BLACK-HEADED GULL was seen again around Jones Inlet, this time last Monday around the pilings at the Jones Beach West End coast guard station, and single GLAUCOUS GULLS were at Shinnecock last Friday and just south of the Bush Terminal Piers Park in Brooklyn Sunday, where a drake Eurasian Wigeon continues.

Other EURASIAN WIGEON remain on Jamaica Bay Refuge’s east pond and on Mill Pond in Centerport, with others also presumably still in place.

To phone in reports, on Long Island call Tony Lauro at (631) 734-4126, or weekdays call Tom Burke at (212) 372-1483.

This service is sponsored by the Linnaean Society of New York and the National Audubon Society. Thank you for calling.

- End transcript